Poconos chiropractor raided in insurance fraud probe

Saturday

Jan 29, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Authorities say a Poconos chiropractic and fitness business is under investigation for what could amount to several million dollars worth of insurance fraud. Investigators from the Northeast Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Task Force on Friday raided the Giacalone Chiropractic and Fitness Center's two locations in Pocono Summit and Canadensis.

ANDREW SCOTT

Authorities say a Poconos chiropractic and fitness business is under investigation for what could amount to several million dollars worth of insurance fraud.

Investigators from the Northeast Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Task Force on Friday raided the Giacalone Chiropractic and Fitness Center's two locations in Pocono Summit and Canadensis.

The company — run by Dr. Joseph Giacalone and his daughter Dr. Maria Giacalone — has been under investigation for five years, said Myles Walsh, task force director.

"This investigation began after an individual contacted us about inconsistencies in Giacolone's insurance billing statements," Walsh said. "For the past five years, we've been monitoring Giacolone's billing statements through the insurance company. We've found too many billing inconsistencies for all this to be accidental and not intentional."

The case could involve fraudulent insurance overbilling amounting to several million dollars, Walsh said.

"Taxpayers will be irate because public money is involved," Walsh said, although he couldn't specify exactly how that money was involved.

Walsh said the investigation is ongoing and could possibly lead to arrests.

"We don't have a timeline at this point on when that might happen," he said.

No charges have been filed against Joseph Giacalone or Maria Giacalone.

On Friday, a team of 40 officers — 20 at each location — scoured the buildings and carried out computers, records and other items to be used as evidence.

Assisting the task force in the search were Pennsylvania State Police, Barrett Township Police, the Monroe County District Attorney's office and the Luzerne County District Attorney's office.

The Northeast Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud and Auto Theft Task Force covers 11 northeastern Pennsylvania counties and includes Walsh, four in-house detectives, a Scranton police officer, a Wilkes-Barre police officer and a detective each from the district attorney's offices in Monroe, Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming counties. The task force also has two attorneys who prosecute cases.